Sheet-handling device



Aug. M, w23. mwm

D. M. SUTHERLAND, JR

SHEET HANDLING DEVICE Filed Oct. 31. l9l9 3 Sheets-Sheet l SWW D. M.SUTHERLAND, JR

Aug. M, w23.

SHEET HANDLING DEVICE Filed Oct. 3l, 1919 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 H mw ww ww MNww mw m W. W N A MN N\ lhlllnnuhlhuhlll'uuh l I I l NQ w Q m 8 mwww .wwwm TTORil/E YS Aug. E923.

D. M. SUTHERLAND, JR

SHEET HANDLING DEVICE Filed Oct, 51, 1919 3 Sheets-Sheerl 5 W/T/L'ESSESa gw@ Patented jarig. lffl, w23.

JERSEY.

SEEEHNDLENG .Application filed october Si, i919. Aserial No.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, DANIEL M. Soren LAND, Jr., a subject of the King oilGreat Britain, and a resident of Trento-n, county of o Mercer, and Stateoit New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Jimprovements in a`Sheetfllandling llevice, of which the Jlollovvi'ng is a speciiicationon The present invention relates to conveyor il@ mechanism for handlingsheets of paper pulp, wood pulp and the like, and particuiarly thick,large sheets of this material. 'lhe principal object of the invention isto provide an improved apparatus 'for trans l@ porting wet sheets olpulp roin one apparatus to anotherl and to or from a pile of suchsheets.

Pulp board sheets are manufactured from pulp byl processes which involvetreatment oit @il the sheets successively in diiierent apparatus and thewet sheets must be conveyed from one apparatus to another and at timesto and 'from| a pile or" wet sheets. The wet sheets` are difficult tohandle without damage 255 because they are fragile and because the skinwhich forms the surface is soft and easily marked or broken. llt isespecially necessary to avoid any damage to the sheet or marring of thesurface for board that is y to have a high finish, inasmuch as anysurface imperfections are very objectionable and diiiicult to remove.

rThe present invention provides a carrier device particularly designedto handle large sheets of wet pulp without marking the surface of thesheet and without other damage v thereto. While the invention isparticularly designed for the. specific use of handling such wet sheets,it is to be understood thatv it may be advantageously applied forhandling other articles and sheets or strips of other material and suchuse is contemplated aswithin the scope of the invention.

The principle of the invention may best 4@ be. understood from thedescription of an apparatus embodying the same. Such an aparatus isshown in the accompanying draw- 1n s in which `igure lis a sideelevation of a sheet carrier constructed in accordance with theinvention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the carrier table, the supports therefor beingshown in section as indicated by the line 2--2 of Fig. l;

Fig., 3 .is view in end elevation al the device as shown in l; i'

Fig. el is a iraentary view showing the position o'E the carrier tablewher picking up or depositing a sheet of wet upon pile or such sheets.

rlPhe sheet carrier in its preferred and illustrated forni comprisesmovable carrier table l, having closely spaced parallel rolls, 2, 2, forsupporting the wet sheets, together with an overhead carriage 3 movableupon a suitable track l 'from which carriage the carrier table issuspended. lili-e table is adapted to he raised and lowered relative tothe carriage and the carriage is arranged to be moved along the trackunder the control ot the operator.

'.l` he carrier table comprises suitable trarne having or examplesupporting yokes, 5, 6, and side bars 7, 8, secured. to 'the yokes. Aseries ci parallel rolls 2 2, arerotatably mounted in the side bars inclosely spaced relation to provide a substantially continuous supportfor the sheet of wet pulp or other material to be carried. lt isdesirable to so shape the ends of the table lthat while a sheet is beingpicked up or de osited it will not be unduly bent at the e 1'ge ot thetable. 7lhis may advantageously be accomplished by making the endstapered to a relatively thin edge and in the construction illustratedthis is done by providing at each end additional rolls 10, 11, 12, whichare of successively smaller diameters, as shown in Figs. 2 and Il. As aresult of this expedient,

whenpicking up or depositing'a sheet, the t smaller rolls act as a wedgebetween the sheet and the table or ile, (see Fig. 4f).

ln operation, the rolls engaging the under surface 'of a sheet beingpicked. up or deposited, rotate at a peripheral speed suchthat there isno tearing or abrading stress upon the sheet, care being taken that thecarrier is at a sulicient height to lift the rolls well above thesurface of the next sheet. below, so as to avoid abrading of such sheet.As, however, the carrier is, or may be, slightly tilted when the uppersheet first engages the rolls, and there is, or may be, some danger ofhaving the surface of the next lower sheet abraded by contact with thefirst three or four rolls, l provide a freely rotatable roll 13,positioned to project slightly below a plane tangent to the lower siesurfaces of the rolls, Such roll supports the rolls 10, 11 and l2,suoiently to clear the lower sheet,

Suitable gearing is provided for driving the rolls 10, 11, 12,simultaneously in either direction and at the same peripheral speed. Forthe purpose ol' illustration, have shown sets of intermeshing gearsmounted. upon the ends of the rollshats upon opposite sides of the tableAlternate gears 14 on each side are secured to the respective shafts,While the other gears 15 are loosely rotatable upon the shafts and servemerely as idlers, rlhese gears are se driven and so arranged that eachroll shaft is driven by a gear 14 secured to one end ithereof'and all ofthe rolls are positively driven in the same direction. The power fordriving these gears maybe supplied as shown by a suitable reversiblemotor 16 carried in the yolre 5 and connectedas by `sprocket Wheels anda chain 17 to drive a transverse shaft 18 from which in turn the gears14, 15, are drivenn As shown, sprocket wheels 19, 20, are secured upon`p osite ends of the shaft 18 and are connectedlby chains 21, 22, tosprocket wheels, 23, 2d, secured respectively to roll shafts 25, 26.,'.lhe fast gears 14: are thus driven all in the same direltion and edectthe desired driving of the ro s,

Gearing of the same type may be arranged to drive the smaller rolls 10,l1 and 12, at each end of the carrier but certain complications areintroduced by the laster speeds required and by the spacing of therolls. For this reason l prefer to employ sprocket gearing. Thearrangement shown is the same ntor both .sets of smaller rolls. Sprocketwheels are secured to the shafts of the rolls l0, 11 and l2, and to theshaft of the next adjacent roll 2, the several Wheels being ot suchrelative sizes that the peripheral speed oit all rolls will be the same.'lhese sprocket wheels are connected bysproclet chains 28, 29 and 30.

rlhe carriage 3 from which the table is suspended, is mounted to travelupon a suitable overhead track d. This track is shown as consisting ofan l-m on the flanges of which run the rollers' or Wheels 33, 3d,rotatably carried on the side bars of the carriage. ln order to controlthe position of 'the carriage, certain ot the supporting Wheels aredriven by a suitable reversible motor. By Way of illustration, theWheels 33, 33, are shown as driven from a motor conventionally indicatedat 36, by means of a suitable train of gears 37, so arranged that asuitable speed may be obtained. The carrier table 1 may be suspendedfrom the carrie e 3, in any suitable or desirable manner. s shown,guides or guide rods 4:1, d1, depending from the carriage, are looselyreceived in tubular guides l2, 42, rigidly secured to the beam lll ofthe carrier table menare frame. The guide rods are prevented fromswinging by braces d5. l prefer also to provide sprin -pressed rollersd6 mounted in' the heads d of the guide rods and engaging the under sideof the track to prevent lifting of one end of the carrier upon anyv ofthe table which may occur in the motors are preferably arranged forremote control from a suitable control operating station in a mannerWell .lnnown in the art.

ln operation, when it is desired to pick up a sheet of pulp from a tableor from a. pile of such sheets, the end or the carrier is in troducedunder'the edge of the sheet and the rolls are driven to draw the sheetonto the table. As the rolls are rotated to feed the pulp onto thecarrier table, the table itself yis moved bodily forward at a speedcorresponding to the surface speed of the rolls so that no tension orcompression is exerted upon the sheet of Wet pulp but the carrier picksup the pulp with as little disturbance of the Wet sheet as possible.''lhe position of the parts during the pickin up of the sheet isindicated in Fig. l. W en it is desired to deposit a sheet, theoperation is reversed and the table is-withdravvn ata speedcorresponding to the surface speed of the rolls as driven to deposit thesheet1 l claim:

l. ln an apparatus of the character described, the combination with acarrier table having a plurality of rolls closely spaced to supportasheet of material and means for driving said rolls, of means for movingsaid carrier in directions transverse to Vthe axes of said rolls at aspeed corresponding to the peripheral speed of the rolls while thevrolls are rotatably driven.

2. ln an apparatus oli. the character described, the combination with acarrier table having a plurality of rolls closely spaced to supmrt asheet of material, of a carrier from which said table is bodilysuspended, said carrier being movable in directions transverse to theaxes of said rolls.,

3. ln an apparatus of the characr described, the combination with acarrier table having a plurality of rolls closely s aced to support asheet of material, the rol s adjacent one edge being of progressivelysmaller diameter and means for driving said Lemiers rolls at the sameeripheral speed, substam tially as describeml 4c., ln an apparatus ofthe character described, a carrier table having a plurality of rollsclosely spaced and of equal size and a smaller roll at one edge toprovide in eect a thin edge substantially as and for the purposedescribed.,

5. ln an apparatus of the character described, the combination with acarrier table having a plurality of rolls closely spaced to support asheet of material, the rolls adjacent one edge being of progressivelysmaller diameter and means for driving said rolls at the same peripheralspeed, and means for moving said table in directions at right angles tothe axes of said rolls at a speed corresponding to the peripheral speedet said rolls.

6. lin an apparatus of the kind described, the combination of anoverhead track, a carriage, track engaging wheels on said carriagewhereby it is movably mounted on said tracks, means for driving saidwheels to actuate said carriage, a carrier-table suspended from saidcarriage in a manner to permit a rocking movement thereof, a pluralityof parallel, closely spaced rolls mounted on said table to form a sheetsupport, the axes of said rolls extending at right angles to said trackand means for driving said rolls.

"5. ln an apparatus of the kind described, the combination of acarrier-table, means movably mounted on Said table for handling materialand mechanism for shifting said carrier-table relatively to the materialbeing handled and at a speed corresponding to the handling speed of saidmovable means.

lin testimony whereof l have hereunto set my handc DANEL M. SUTHERLAND,JR.

yes

